May the Scales Fall

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the third Sunday of Easter, the 1st of May, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.]

What we know of as the Book of Luke, or the Gospel account according to the Apostle Luke, was dedicated to a friend of his named Theophilus.  The name Theophilus means “dear to God” or “friend of God”, and being a Greek name, we can be pretty sure this friend was a Gentile.  Luke himself was a Gentile, and in fact, probably the only Gentile author of any of our New Testament.  He was a physician by profession but became more of an evangelist, accompanying his friend, the Apostle Paul, on his missionary trips.

In that book of Luke’s Gospel account, he told the story of Jesus’ life based on interviews with those who had actually walked with Jesus.  But then Luke wrote a second book for Theophilus to read, and this one covered what occurred after Jesus was resurrected from the dead and had ascended into heaven.  In it, he tried to recount all that happened to the early church, and all that the apostles did up until that point.  Indeed, it gives us the best view of the early church, how it took root and how it evolved.

Over the course of the next several weeks, I want to dig into this Book of Acts of the Apostles, for it contains a wealth of valuable information for us.  We can learn from the examples it provides, both of things to do and things not to do.  And I’ll probably be skipping around a bit, not necessarily following any order.

Since Paul was such a critical figure in the growth of the early church, and still an inspiration to us today, I’d like to start with his conversion, for he wasn’t always a friend of the church.  Please listen and follow along to what the Apostle Luke recorded for us in chapter 9 of his Book of the Acts of the Apostles, verses 1 through 22, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”

Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.”

And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”

13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”

15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.

19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.

20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.

21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”

22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

--Acts 9:1-22 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for taking what some may consider the worst among us and opening our eyes to the truth and allowing us to serve You.  So many of our heroes in the Bible were flawed individuals, just like us, yet You took them and used them to their fullest in Your great plan.  Thank You Father for giving us these examples of how You can take anyone and make them a great servant.  Thank You for lifting the scales from their - and our - eyes.  Forgive us, please, when we close our eyes to the truth.  Forgive us when we fail to live up to our potential.  Please help us better see how You can use us.  Help us understand our role in Your plan.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who do his work, splitting us apart, pulling us away from Jesus.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Improve our spiritual vision that we might better see our true purpose at this stage of our life.  Help us serve Your will.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Christian author Lynn Anderson once noted that:

About 400 years ago, a shipload of travelers landed on the northeast coast of America.  The first year they established a town site.  The next year they elected a town government.  The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness.

In the fourth year the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward into a wilderness.  Who needed to go there anyway?

Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to get there.  But in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town.  They had lost their pioneering vision.  With a clear vision of what we can become in Christ, no ocean of difficulty is too great.  Without it, we rarely move beyond our current boundaries.

Some among us are great explorers, putting all fears and doubts aside to set off on grand adventures.  Human history, especially American history, records many expeditions into unknown and uncharted territories.  These people have a vision, as seen through their mind’s eye, of what lies ahead, just a little further than most can see.

Our first settlers crossed the wide Atlantic in ships most of us wouldn’t dare set foot in.  They faced great odds, survived unexpected perils.  But then they became too comfortable, and complacency set in.  What had been a clear vision became clouded and very short-sighted.

And so it is with those who may become too comfortable and complacent in their Christian faith.  They may lose sight of what lies ahead for all of humanity.  Why go out trying to find the lost when we are safe here, saved by our belief?  When we maintain a clear vision of what we can do in Christ, there is nothing we can’t accomplish.

Now, earlier I said I wanted to look at the Apostle Paul and his conversion to Christianity, but our scripture reading was all about someone named “Saul”.  Were these two different people?  Is “Paul” the name Jesus gave Saul when He converted him, kind of like Jesus called Simon “Peter”?  Well, no, not really, to both questions.  Paul and Saul are the same person, and really the same name.

Paul was born in Tarsus, a Roman city, making him a Roman citizen by birth, but to Jewish parents, making him a Jew.  So “Paul” was his Latin name while “Saul” was his Jewish name.  The names were interchangeable, and he wasn’t called “Paul” in our Bible until the 13th chapter of Acts when he was on the isle of Cyprus.

Saul was also a Pharisee, doing what he thought was his best in service to God.  You may recall it was Saul who held the coats of the Jews as they stoned Stephen, the first Christian martyr.  And then he set about persecuting the church, arresting believers and bringing them to trial, seeing them sent off to prison.  After His crucifixion, Christ's followers scattered throughout Judea and Samaria out of fear, and Saul chased after them.

It was while he was on one such mission that our story takes place.  Saul and some companions were headed to Damascus, looking for Christians to arrest and bring back to Jerusalem for trial.  Suddenly, he was struck blind by a great light from above and the voice of Jesus spoke to him in his blindness.

A couple of interesting points about that conversation…  First is that Saul recognized a greater power at work and addressed the voice as “Lord”.  And second is that Saul accepted the voice to be that of Jesus and effectively surrendered to Him, asking, “What do You want me to do?”.

The men who were with Saul heard the voice, but saw no one there.  We can only imagine what they must have been thinking.  They led the now blinded Saul on into Damascus, where he stayed three days with eating or drinking.

Then Jesus spoke to a local believer by the name of Ananias and told him to go to Saul and give him back his sight, for Saul had been shown in a vision that this would happen.  Now Saul's reputation was well known, and feared.  So it took great faith and obedience for Ananias to go to Saul rather than try to hide from him.  I believe the clincher had to have been when Jesus said that Saul “is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel”.

So Ananias went to Saul and did as he was told.  And immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again.

It shouldn’t take a lot of insight to realize that Paul’s blindness was not merely physical.  Yes, he was blinded by a great light there on that dusty road, leaving him unable to see anything.  But he was blind to the truth long before that.

He was a good Pharisee, doing everything he could, everything he thought was right, to serve God.  He was blinded to the truth by his teachings and the corruption of the Law by the Jewish religious leaders.  Scales covered his mind’s eyes, his heart’s eyes, blinding him to what God really wanted of him.  He couldn’t see the truth when it was standing right before his eyes.

There’s a proverb that says, “There are none so blind as those who will not see".  That old saying is based on a warning spoken by God through His prophet Jeremiah, as recorded in the 5th chapter of the book bearing his name, verses 20 through 24…

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;

proclaim it in Judah:

21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,

who have eyes, but see not,

who have ears, but hear not.

22 Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.

Do you not tremble before me?

I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,

a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;

though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;

though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;

they have turned aside and gone away.

24 They do not say in their hearts,

‘Let us fear the Lord our God,

who gives the rain in its season,

the autumn rain and the spring rain,

and keeps for us

the weeks appointed for the harvest.’"

--Jeremiah 5:20-24 (ESV)

The most deluded people are those who ignore what they already know.  All the signs of God’s existence and mighty power have been there all along and yet too many people refuse to believe.  Too many are still blind to the truth.  O Father, may the scales fall from their eyes.

Family, sometimes we let our own sight become clouded.  Sometimes we become too comfortable and forget that Jesus gave us a job to do.  And sometimes, like Paul, we may have to suffer for Jesus’ name’s sake.  We don’t want to suffer, and we don’t want to get uncomfortable, so maybe we turn a blind eye to what needs to be done.

We are chosen vessels of Christ Jesus, chosen to carry his name before the whole world, to the mighty and the lowly alike, and even to the children of Israel.  We need to open our eyes to the truth.  There are many evils at work right now, pulling the world apart, tearing at the church, striving to destroy anything that is good.  There is much we can do in service to Jesus.  The opportunities are great and varied.

May the scales fall from our eyes so that we can see how best to serve our Lord.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, so long ago You warned Your chosen people and us about not seeing the truth.  You have made Yourself and Your power known from the very creation of all existence, yet so many refuse to see.  Your truth is in Your word in our Bible, but so many refuse to believe.  Thank You, Father, for lifting the scales from our eyes that we might see and believe.  Father, sometimes even we who follow Your Son get too comfortable in our own little world and don’t want to have to work or suffer.  Sometimes we just become blinded by all the evil that is going on around us, numbed by the constant barrage.  Forgive us, Father, for the times we don’t want to see the truth.  Forgive us when we hesitate to act on the side of righteousness.  Please help us be better servants.  And Father, please help us remain strong, faithful, and true through all that we face in this age.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You knew what was in store for Paul, and how You could use him to build Your church and get it started.  And You knew how much he would have to suffer while serving You.  Thank You, Lord, for showing us that even someone who persecuted You most of his life could be changed in an instant into Your most faithful servant.  Please, Lord, forgive us when we hesitate to do as You command us, either out of fear of suffering like Paul or from an unwillingness to step out of our personal comfort zone.  Help us see what it is You have in store for us.  Remind us of our promise to serve You.  Show us how we can best carry Your name to the world.  And Lord Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.